Daniel Andrews’ chief of staff met with election fixer

Daniel Andrews’ chief of staff has had direct contact with the election fixer who was caught boasting about rorting Victoria’s elections.

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An election fixer at the centre of a “seats for sale” and sham political parties scandal has engaged directly with Premier Daniel Andrews’ chief of staff.

Glenn Druery was exposed in a bombshell video, revealed by the Herald Sun on Thursday, boasting how he would “control” who wins several key upper house seats in next week’s election – with “his” MPs likely to share the balance of power.

Mr Druery was also caught on film saying the ALP was happy not to reform the system he is rorting because he delivers the party a “crossbench they can work with” in government.

Amid furore over the damning revelations, Mr Andrews on Thursday said: “I don’t believe I have ever met him, spoken to him, I don’t know him”.

But the Herald Sun can ­reveal Mr Druery has had direct contact with Mr Andrews’ chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliff, during this term of government, and met with his office.

 

Premier Daniel Andrews says he has never spoken with Glenn Druery. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Asked whether there had been any discussions about electoral reform or preference deals, a spokesman for Mr Andrews said: “Mr Druery had one meeting with the Premier’s Office in 2019 when he was a staffer for the Derryn Hinch Justice Party.

“Preference discussions are entirely and exclusively a matter for the Labor Party.”

The Premier’s Office said the meeting was about staffing entitlements for cross­benchers.

After the emergence of the damning video, released by whistleblower candidates, the Opposition and the Greens both promised to stamp out the voting scam next term, while Mr Andrews refused to commit.

The video exposes Mr Druery explaining how he manipulates the upper house group voting tickets – which have been scrapped in every state except Victoria – to get minor party MPs elected on a fraction of the popular vote.

In a meeting with the whistleblowers on November 1, he detailed how he expected to be paid $55,000 for helping deliver a seat and explained he had an understanding with Labor that the party would not stop his rort as it benefited them.

The material has been sent to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission by whistleblowers Heston Russell and Chris Burson, from the Angry Victorians Party.

 

So-called ‘preference whisperer’ Glenn Druery.

Asked about the issue on Thursday, Mr Andrews said: “Preferences are dealt with by the party and we do not engage his services”.

Pressed about whether Labor had paid Mr Druery or done any deals, Mr Andrews said: “He’s someone who provides professional services and is paid to do so. I’m happy for the party to come back to you and these are matters for the party but I don’t believe we’ve ever engaged his services. He works for many other parties, many of whom are not big fans of me.”

Victorian ALP State Secretary Chris Ford said: “The Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party has never paid Glenn Druery, in money or in kind, for any services”.

Mr Andrews refused to commit to changing upper house voting laws, saying he wanted to “wait and see” the outcomes of a review into the 2022 election.

The previous election review, into the 2018 poll, called on the parliament to hold a separate inquiry into the upper house voting system – but it did not happen.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said “Third World style” group voting tickets would be scrapped if he became premier, as the current system allowed people to “literally buy their way into Victorian ­parliament”.

The Premier’s chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliff.

“We voted against this in the parliament. Denis Napthine sought to change it, Daniel Andrews refused to give him any kind of co-operation on this. Now we know why,” he said.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said the Premier must answer whether he or Labor gave a commitment to Mr Druery to keep group voting tickets in exchange for preferable deals.

“Furthermore, the Premier must come clean about any discussions he or his ministers had with Mr Druery about legislation or other parliamentary business in the last term of parliament,” she said.

“People on our parliament payroll are paying exorbitant fees to get across the line on election day, with their votes being directed by someone happy to rort the system to get them a seat.”

In the leaked video of Mr Druery, he explains his fees for getting an MP into parliament are $50,000, with a $5000 charge for belonging to “the family” of parties that use his services. Some members of “the family” spoke on condition of anonymity, and said payments were like those provided to a consultant by a party, and were legal.

Political parties are typically billed after the election and it remains unclear how much money, if any, comes from administrative funding provided by the Victorian Electoral Commission.

The lead candidate of the Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews Party slapped down claims by Mr Druery he set up the party and that it was a sham to harvest preferences.

Tosh Finnigan, who is running in the Western Victorian Region in the upper house, said they had spoken with preference whisperer Glenn Druery when setting up the party, however.

“I will freely admit that I have long admired Mr Druery for ensuring neither Labor or the Coalition have the balance of power in the upper house, and we have a mutual interest in this regard, and when setting up the party I contacted Glenn to let him know it was in the works,” Mx Finnigan said.

But they rejected claims by Mr Druery the party was set up as a sham.

In the video, Mr Druery boasts how he has been instrumental in setting up dozens of sham parliamentary parties with catchy names, solely to get other candidates elected via those parties’ preferences.

“So, let me tell you about Sack Dan Andrews, and I am bringing you into confidence here – it is one of mine,” he says.